Underlying each report is a Report Type that is designed to return the broadest possible set of data fields related to a specific topic without overwhelming system resources. You may narrow the set of fields available in your report (to streamline use and improve performance), but you will not be able to add to these fields.

Select the Report Type that provides the fields you need for your report. If you aren't sure which type you need, select the one that seems most likely and check to see whether all the fields you need are available. If not, select another type.

Once the appropriate Report Type has been selected, filtering options are set for each available field to determine whether the field will be fixed or present in the Search Form, and whether it will be displayed in Viewable Results and Downloadable Results when a report is run. A report must have at least one field designated as Searchable or Fixed.

Once the fields for the report have been selected as 'Fixed', 'Searchable', 'Viewable' and 'Downloadable', the Super Admin sets default values and operators. It isn't necessary to set a default value for a Searchable Fields unless most reports will require the field to be set to a certain value. For instance, the Status field is often set to 'Active' because the organization is usually most interested in managing active users, companies and memberships. A Report Admin can always set this value to 'Inactive' to generate a report on deactivated users or companies, or set the field value to 'Any Status' to retrieve companies or users irregardless of status.

The Super Admin can also set the order in which fields will be displayed in the Search Form, Results Form and Download Form when administrators run reports.

When you designate a field as searchable and it displays 'Show results for' as an operator, the values will be displayed as a set of checkboxes on the Search Form. As you'd expect, any checkboxes you select while configuring the Search Form will be prechecked when they are displayed to the Reports Admin.

Unless an operator is displayed, these fields are in an 'or' relationship, so when a report is run, the results will include records that contain any of the selected values. If none of the checkboxes are preselected by the Super Admin and the Report Admin doesn't check any when running the report, the field will be ignored (i.e., the results will not be restricted by the values in this field). Ironically, the result of running a report with all the field values selected is the same as the result of running a report with none of the field values selected.

Fields where you can set an operator include the 'Membership Status' and 'User Purpose' fields.

The Report Builder includes custom fields, which are displayed in the context of their data type (company, user or membership). They appear at the bottom of each section, in alphabetical order. You can set the order in which these fields will be displayed in the report's Search Form and Results Form.

As soon as a report is added it becomes available at the Reports Area. When the Report Admin clicks a link to a report, the report's Search Form is displayed.

The Search Form presents the fields designated as 'Searchable' in the order set by the Super Admin with the specified default values and operators. The Report Admin sets search parameters to generate the kind of report they need, then runs the report.

The Results Form displays fields designated as 'Viewable' in the order set by the Super Admin.

Fields designated as 'Downloadable' by the Super Admin will be available in the Downloadable Results. The downloadable version of the report usually includes a more complete set of fields than those displayed in the Viewable Results. For example, item key fields aren't available for inclusion in Viewable Results.